Color (for iPhone)

Swift, proximity-based photo and video sharing. Ability to customize your image-viewing experience. You can view previously-snapped user photos even after they've moved out of range. Notifications system.

Cons
Confusing, busy interface. Lack of privacy controls.

Bottom Line

Color lets you quickly share and discover new photos and video from people within your vicinity but the fragmented interface and privacy concerns may prove a barrier to entry.

Color Options Tapping one of the thumbnail images in the vertical strip highlights the user who took the snap, and bringing a finger to that person's profile photo bounces you to another screen. On this new screen, you can tap the person's profile photo to reveal options to show more photos, less photos, or hide their existence completely. I learned to appreciate the "Hide" button rather quickly as I encountered a pair of people flipping the bird within my first hour of checking out shared photos and video.

Tapping the "Visual Bulletin" icon in the lower-left portion of the home screen takes you to a global view that lets you check out photos from groups. The most recent are on top, but you can view older ones by scrolling down. You can form a group at any time by tapping "New Group" and begin shooting. Color will gather the photos from people in your area and cull them together. You can begin feeding images into already created group by clicking "Join Group."

Tapping the "Visual Diary" icon in the lower-right portion of the home screen lets you view all the images in a grid, based on a particular calendar date. Color lets you scroll back weeks or months to view previously taken photos and video taken using the app. As Color is still in its infancy, I was able to go back just one day, but all of the images were still viewable. Tapping the icon again takes you to the Notifications area that displays a list of comments and "Likes." You can you leave comments or "Like" a photo when you view it.

Grayed-out user profile photos symbolize that you haven't been around that person recently or interacted with their content. Eventually, the profile photos fade out of your network Back to the Future-style until they disappear. They'll come back into focus if you "Like" some of their photos or get together for a Multi-lens shooting session.

When you are out of range of users with whom you've shared photos, Color still proves useful as you can view those previously snapped, cloud-stored photos at any time.

Interface Woes If you got the sense that there's a lot of icon tapping and screen shifting going on, you've zoned in on my biggest gripe with Color: its interface. I, and several colleagues, griped that there are too many different views giving the app a lack of visual consistency. I foresee this being a barrier that some users will struggle to overcome.

The "Heart" icons, which one may think leads to favorite-ing a photo, actually pulls up a menu that lets you post a URL to Twitter or Facebook; you can also send the links via e-mail or SMS.

Should You Download Color? Color is, without a doubt, a fun and engaging technology. I really enjoyed the swift manner by which photos and video were fed to my phone, and the voyeuristic nature of viewing images of people, and the photos and video that interest them, is quite addictive. Color lets you get into another person's eyes--something that isn't a common occurrence--and, oddly, fosters a sense of community with a group of people you may have never met, or communicated with in any other fashion. Obviously, privacy issues are going to be a big part of the color story. But they always are, with any social networking app. It remains to be seen how much an issue it will be for Color. For better or for worse, Color connects people in a way that Facebook doesn'tthere's a constant discovery of new people and places. Much needed interface improvements are the one thing that might hold Color back from widespread adoption by mobile social butterflies.

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Automatic Renewal Program: Your subscription will continue without interruption for as long as you wish, unless
you instruct us otherwise. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of the term unless you authorize
cancellation. Each year, you'll receive a notice and you authorize that your credit/debit card will be charged the
annual subscription rate(s). You may cancel at any time during your subscription and receive a full refund on all
unsent issues. If your credit/debit card or other billing method can not be charged, we will bill you directly instead. Contact Customer Service